Mapping of Nonconformities that Impact the Performance of Cooling Towers: Refinery Case

Abstract

The current world outlook of supply and demand for basic inputs, such as in the case of water, has created an alarming situation for all of society, especially the industrial sector. Cooling Towers are the equipment responsible for the removal of heat from a stream of hot water from an industrial process and at the same time they are the most water-consuming equipment in the industry. Their good performance is directly linked to the sustainable consumption of water present in the environment. In this context, audits for the mapping of nonconformities encountered frequently in tower operation become a useful tool to increase the efficiency of the equipment. As a step in this mapping and work objective, discussions were carried out on two irregularities commonly identified in operation, such as: (1) variation of the water feed load; (2) variation of air flow, in addition to its main causes and impacts on the operation and efficiency of the equipment. Actual data were obtained for the case study of a tower located in Petroleum Refinery in Brazil. The controlled variable chosen for the study was the outlet water temperature of the tower. The model used to identify the output temperature is based on Merkel's theory, using the Tchebeycheff method for numerical integration. Therefore, with the variations carried out, it is possible to verify the direct influence on the outlet temperature and to identify possible causes of the irregularities addressed in the study.